Related Articles
A SHERIFF has blasted offenders who fail to turn up to social work interviews and claim their appointment letters were ‘lost in the post’.
The tiresome excuse was unsuccessfully deployed by Mark Todd when he appeared in the dock at Alloa Sheriff Court on Thursday, December 10.
The 32-year-old Clackmannan resident was due to be sentenced for two charges: one of abusive behaviour and one of assaulting a police constable.
His sentencing had previously been deferred for several weeks to allow a criminal justice social work report to be prepared.
Such reports are often called for, as they assist courts in determining the most appropriate sentence to impose on an offender.
However, solicitor Holly McKie told the court last week there was no report available because her client did not receive the appointment letter.
She added that Todd had made his own efforts to contact the social work department about this after waiting several weeks – but to no avail.
That explanation was given short shrift from Sheriff Craig Harris, who claimed this happens “too many times” in the local court.
He said: “I refuse to believe Royal Mail in Clackmannanshire is so much more deficient than anywhere else in the country, and that letters do not get received.”
Given how frequently the excuse is trotted out, Sheriff Harris said he had implemented new procedures in the court whereby people are provided with the social work department’s details.
Offenders are also advised to be “proactive” and make their own efforts to arrange appointments with social workers if they do not receive an appointment letter.
Returning to Todd’s case, Sheriff Harris said: “He has attempted to phone the social work department on Monday [December 7].
“One view is he was trying to be cute and play the system, knowing he faces a period of imprisonment and thinking: ‘If I don’t get a report, I’ll be able to stay out of prison over Christmas because the case is continued’.”
He added: “I refuse to believe Royal Mail continually fail to deliver letters; I hear this time and time again in this court.
“I don’t think people not getting their mail is a common problem in Scotland, but it seems to happen a lot when it’s criminal justice social work papers. I wonder why.
“It all smacks a little to me of Mr Todd trying to engineer things, so he doesn’t have to face the music today.”
Ms McKie said she could only relay what her client had told her.
She then asked for a further deferral and for Todd, of Erskine Place, to be allowed to remain on bail meantime.
However, Sheriff Harris summoned a GeoAmey custody officer from the cells, then ordered that Todd be remanded in custody while a report was prepared.
The case will call again on December 24.
This was not the first time a local sheriff has criticised offenders’ dubious claims about social work letters going missing in the post.
On two occasions last year, now-retired Sheriff David Mackie vented his frustration at the frequency with which the questionable claim was deployed.
In July, when a man claimed not to have received an appointment letter, Sheriff Mackie said: “I hear this every day of life, and if I accepted that explanation every time, I would feel sorry for the social work department because none of their mail gets through.”
Not long after that, the weary sheriff found himself issuing a similar message to a man who made the same claim in court in October.
On that occasion, Sheriff Mackie said: “I find myself saying quite often that the criminal justice social work department seems to have the worst service from the postal service of anywhere I know.”
The Advertiser has contacted Royal Mail to ask if there are any known issues with letters being delivered in Clackmannanshire.
***Waiting on Royal Mail response***
